i have a love/hate relationship with snacks. i love to eat them. i hate that before i can decide to bring said snack into my home, i need to calculate the damage that would be done if i were to eat the whole bag. lately the hate had been winning and the evilness of snacks had been avoided.
that is until about a month ago. i was asked to write a guest snack blog. not a big deal, right? i’ll just go buy a snack, write my blog, and that will be it. ahh, but it has to be the perfect snack. damn my perfectionism!
the downward spiral began when i entered the snack row at trader joes. i had already had a failed attempt at a local "healthy" food store, when i purchased chile pineapple tidbits, a ridiculously spicy snack. once i regained my ability to taste again, i found myself in the trader joes snack row. now i do LOVE trader joes, probably more than is natural, BUT my love does not extend to the snack row.
don’t get me wrong, the snacks are yummy and creative and generally healthier than your average chip, but, again, not if you eat the whole bag in one sitting. it’s like the fat free cookie problem, which i believe is responsible for 25% of obesity! as a pediatrician, i feel the need to "practice what i preach" and eat how i tell my patients to. somehow i feel they will know! therefore, i blame you, shawn, for the copious snacks filling my once snackless cabinets and the distinct lack of "real" food in my home. this, of course, makes me a hypocrite (and approximately four lbs heavier than last month!). however, i thank you, with a twinge of sarcasm, for the discovery of a new snack...
snack away! #6 - one out of five doctors...
guest blogger: aimee parow, phoenix, az
snack: buccaneer joe’s unburied treasure sour cream & onion corn puffs
drink: fresh & easy cucumber flavored water
upon entering trader joe’s for my snack quest, i found a somewhat familiar snack bag, however with a green stripe. you may be familiar with the unburied treasure white cheddar flavor (a really yummy knock off of pirate's booty), however this new bag was sour cream & onion flavor!
now where do i start? true to the original white cheddar flavor, the base of puffy corn is light and airy, dissolving in your mouth. the sour cream & onion flavor is not overwhelming and is evenly distributed over all pieces. it leaves a slight aftertaste of sour cream and probably some really rank breath. it will definitely keep the creepy, stand-too-close friend at a more appropriate distance. this may just be the perfect sour cream and onion snack.
they are also relatively healthy (which every doctor likes!) with 140 calories, 5g of fat, 2g fiber (who doesn’t love fiber?!) and 3g protein in a rather large 2.5 cup serving. also there is no MSG, my arch enemy...definitely a better choice than the hot cheetos staining the lips and fingers of the children of phoenix.
in order to compensate for the fact that i’ve eaten 2 ½ 3 4 servings of the snack while writing this, i chose to go with a no calorie drink--fresh & easy cucumber flavored water. i’m not sure who's the genius who came up with this one or why no one told him/her that cucumbers don’t HAVE any flavor. not surprisingly, it tastes like water with a very, very, very, very slight aftertaste of cucumber. i’m not really seeing the advantage over water.
all in all, the combination of very flavorful snack and flavorless drink worked very well. it also came with minimal guilt, provided the rest of the bag remains in my cabinet until at least tomorrow. diet starts tomorrow.
aimee parow is a pediatrician who lives in phoenix with her two dogs (lona & gypsy) & a stray cat named max, who lives on the porch. she enjoys exotic foods & gadgets and is an M.D. who is one part E.R., two parts S.C.P.A., one part M.L.B. & no parts MSG.